I'm new to this forum and there is plenty of info around. The motor is not in a car it's going in a boat but I had 1 broken intake bolt and in getting the intake off 2 more broke. A easy out doesen't work so can it be drilled out and without removing the heads?

When that happened to mine, I took the heads to a machine shop and had them re-threaded.

 

You can try and do it while its still on whatever its on, but you have to be careful not to drill to much and get into one of the coolant channels.

"so can it be drilled out and without removing the heads?"

 

Yes.

 

I drilled, sprayed with penetrating oil and let it be for a while. Used a little heat, and they came right out.

 

hth, be careful,

 

Doug

i have posted gobs of info, from experience unfortunately, dealing with these crazy bolts. or at least EA82/ER27 intake bolts which i imagine are similar and shear often as well.

 

throw your EZouts away, they absolutely suck. i can't tell you how many sheared EZ outs i've seen, and good luck getting those out. if something does come out with an EZout, it'll come out with any number of other methods too. there's nothing an EZout can do that other things can't do 50 times better. (except shear off and totally ruin your day).

 

yes you can get them out without pulling the heads.

 

go buy some left handed drill bits (for metal obviously), they'll need to be good quality to drill through the bolt material. the left handed bits help tremendously. as you're drilling they're putting a "left hand" torque on the bolt, helping to back it out. works great.

 

i usually start with a small bit, then go one size larger.

 

if you just want someone else to do it, call around to some machine shops. shouldn't be hard to find one willing to take your entire engine and do it for you. i've done that before as well.

With all respect to Gary...

 

Just drilling a hole helps. Lefty ,righty ,just drill a hole and then use the easy out if you haven't gone out to buy lefty drills.

 

Drill hole,apply PB Blaster let sit a little,apply heat and your done before the other guy got to the store.

 

Personally,I prefer Timeserts. I bought the kit and do not regret it at all.

 

Better than Helicioil because now you can take that bolt out a dozen times if you need to and not have to re-tap etc.

Thanks for the info all 3 of bolts line up with a head bolt. Is there any water passages there? What's all involved with pulling the heads? Can they just be pulled and put back on and just check the valves and pushrods?

are you still trying to remove these bolts? if so, there's no need to worry about water passages, just drill to the depth of the bolt and no more.

 

no need to drill more than the bolt out, right? maybe i'm missing something?

 

as for removing the heads, you should be able to just remove the head, clean it up and reinstall with new head gaskets.

 

it is ideal to mill the head and have a valve job done, but everyone is different and depends how long you plan on keeping this thing.

 

you could attempt a leak down test before pulling the heads to see how the valves are holding.

I'll do a leak down to see. I don't know the age of the motor but I do know it was in a boat for about 4 years and we run them at 3000rpm + all the time. I only paid $250 for it with the bellhousing to mount a marine clutch that is worth $500 new. The motor has been sitting for 6 months.

Mike, sounds like you got a good deal. There must be fifty ways to get those bolts out:). Really. What you got on hand? I'm going to check on those drill bits Gary is talking about, sounds like a good thing.

 

I have drilled one small hole before in one of those bolts, sprayed it with PB Blaster, let it sit awhile, and twisted it out with my fingers. Really.

 

If I remember correctly, pay attention and you'll know when you get through the bolt "before" you ever touch the aluminum in the bottom of the hole. Well, I do remember right. You'll probably know it.

 

If you leak it down, you'll find out if you have a viable motor, or not. Period. No need to pull the heads to find that out.

 

3000 RPM is a sweet spot with a Subaru:).

 

hth, really,

 

Doug